Editorial for 01 December: Hope holiday death is last

Despite the efforts of the Royal Islands Police Service’s Christmas Crackers, some people just don’t get it.

Everyone in the Cayman Islands is already well into the festive, Christmas mood, and today is only the first day of December.

We have 24 more days to go until Christmas and then another week after that to get to New Year’s Day.

And already we’ve had our first deadly wreck.

From eyewitness accounts, it was a grizzly scene.

The victim, 52-year-old Richard Martin, was – according to comments made on the cayCompass.com story about the wreck, a wonderful man.

“The man killed on that highway was one of the most extraordinary I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was always willing to help and was always willing to go the extra mile (even if he didn’t know you). I want the one who killed him to know that he killed a father, husband and friend to many. I hope that last drink was worth the years of suffering you’ll endure knowing to killed a wonderful man,” wrote one of our readers.

“The man killed was a great man. He was always willing to help others. His true love for helping others and bettering the community were always visible. He will be greatly missed. RIP,” wrote another poster.

Unfortunately we have a history of people dying in deadly crashes during the holiday season. Now the victim’s family will face this Christmas and years to come without this devoted father and husband. The driver of the other car, who has been taken into custody on suspicion of alcohol consumption, will have to live with the knowledge that his actions caused another human’s death.

If you’re going to drink this holiday season, please don’t get behind the wheel of a moving vehicle. More often than not in these incidents it is the innocents on the road who pay the price for the reckless behaviours of others.

While the police will be out in force over the holidays, they can’t be everywhere. We have to be able to police ourselves and our friends. If someone has had too much to drink, take away their keys and call a taxi. If you don’t, you could be the next innocent victim on Cayman’s roadways this holiday season.